As evening turns to night, sugar cravings tend to peak, and for many people, resisting the urge for something sweet after dinner becomes a real struggle. For anyone who wants a treat without derailing their health goals, laddoos made from dry fruits and sattu offer a smart alternative. This recipe skips sugar, jaggery and every other sweetener entirely, yet still delivers a taste that rivals traditional mithai.
It starts with dry fruits and makhana
Begin by heating 1 tablespoon of desi ghee in a pan. Add half a cup of pumpkin seeds, half a cup of watermelon seeds, half a cup of sunflower seeds, half a cup of chopped almonds and two tablespoons of sesame seeds, and roast them lightly. Once roasted, set the mixture aside. In the same pan, roast makhana until crisp, stirring continuously over a low to medium flame so they don't burn. Once everything is roasted, grind it all together in a mixer jar into a fine powder. Then add half a cup of chopped, seedless dates and grind again briefly so the dates blend evenly into the mixture.
Roasted sattu gives the laddoos their shape
Next, take 2 cups of chana sattu in a pan and roast it with slightly less than a cup of ghee. Since sattu is made from already roasted chana, it doesn't need to be roasted for long. Once roasted, the sattu turns slightly thinner in texture. Let it cool, then fold in the dry fruit and makhana mixture prepared earlier. Add a little powdered cardamom for flavour, mix everything thoroughly, and shape the mixture into small laddoos.
No sugar, but still want it sweeter?
No sugar has been used anywhere in this recipe. However, if a milder sweetness is preferred, jaggery powder can be added to the mix. If jaggery powder isn't available at home, melted jaggery can be stirred in instead. This makes the laddoos taste even better and easier to shape. People following a weight loss diet can also include these laddoos without hesitation.
Good for weight loss and diabetes patients
What makes these laddoos stand out is that they can be eaten during a weight loss diet, and diabetes patients can have them without worry. Packed with dry fruits, makhana and sattu, the laddoos provide instant energy the moment they are eaten, helping fight fatigue. They also help calm sugar cravings, cutting down the urge to repeatedly reach for sugar laden sweets.
